What up Squad!!!
It is time to celebrate for this dude! It’s been THREE-FULL-YEARS since I launched my resume writing side-hustle and holy smokes, did I think I’d be where I am now when it all started? I genuinely don’t recall.
I don’t recall if I ever even thought this far ahead… but here I am :)
Where is that exactly (aside from at home like everyone else fortunate enough to have a desk job)?
I’m so very glad you asked.
The Dreaded 2020 brought about some major milestones for me in my business:
1. I Quit My Job!
I am literally holding myself up on my own with no safety net or salary to fall back on. It feels very very cool. It feels freeing and exhilarating to know that I’m fully responsible for generating my own income. It’s like a digital version of living off the land (in my mind at least).
I’m also loving this because… although I like to think of myself as a good collaborator… I finally feel free admitting this… I don’t really like to collaborate unless I’m in charge (with the occasional exceptions).
My mantra is, as my mom or Ariana can tell you, “Don’t tell me what to do”… of course they both still do.
2. I became (moderately) TikTok Famous!
I posted 4 videos on TikTok over the course of October. After the 3rd video, I had 8 followers…
The 4th video received nearly 300,000 views and generated about 1,800 followers in 3 days.
Since then, the views and followers have continued rolling in.
I now have 31,000 followers and what’s even crazier (and more helpful) is that about 60% of my clients come in through TikTok.
3. I Launched Job Search Institute
As you may know, I had been dabbling in video courses for some time. I had generated some decent traffic on royalty-based sites like Skillshare, but those places have their limitations.
I wanted to create a HUGE, ALL-INCLUSIVE course that I could use to teach everything. Resume Writing, Cover Letter Writing, LinkedIn Profile Optimization, Online Networking, and Interview Prep.
The whole thing took me several months to prepare (shout out to Ariana for helping me out with the branding), and when it was finally ready, wowie, I was excited.
The initial launch went pretty well. I sold 5 spots in the first week! Things have tapered off a little since then, but I’m excited to say that I have now had 35 students enrol in the program and we’re still growing :)
Check out Job Search Institute
4. I Threw Too Much Money into Facebook Ads
After I launched Job Search Institute, I built a sales funnel that looked like this:
Facebook Ads > Resume Self-Assessment Quiz > Email Subscription > Job Search Institute Promotion
The problem with this is, you need to put a fairly substantial amount of money into Facebook Ads to get people to look at whatever your next step is (in my case, my FREE Resume Killer Quiz (still active btw if you want to check it out)).
So I was putting about $30 per day into these ads with the goal of getting people to take my quiz and then join my email list in exchange for their quiz results. This was yielding me about 6-10 new subscribers per day.
After 2 months and about $2,000 of that experiment, I was saved by TikTok.
With my TikTok videos, I’m now able to drive 10-50 people to my email list everyday for exactly $0.
I learned a lot about Facebook Ads during that time, but the most important lesson was to not use them.
5. I “Hired” a “Staff”
To be clear, I’m technically no one’s boss (except my own), but I do now have some contractors helping me out with some stuff.
I have 2 very talented resume writers who are helping me with this fast-and-furious wave of TikTok clients that are coming in every day.
Ariana is freelancing for me with marketing, branding, and business strategy support (she’s very gifted and conveniently located so it was an easy decision).
I’ve also had some really kind help from a few other friends around accounting, email marketing, and sales. I’m a lucky dude, what can I say :)
So What’s on for Year Four?
I don’t know.
I mean, I have set some goals for sure…
I’ve doubled my business income the past 2 years and with no other source of income, and all my time and energy to dedicate towards this, we’re going to shoot for doubling 3 years in a row!
Here how:
Scaling up the Job Search Institute sales: I’m still trying to find the ideal product offering and price point, so once that lands, I feel very good about how this will go.
Ramp up client work: With the help of my Senior Resume Writers, I’ve been able to take on more clients which eases the bottleneck that one faces when operating alone.
New Revenue Streams: I have resume templates for sale now which are selling at a reasonable rate. I’m also looking into doing some live (pay-to-attend webinars) that would be a fun way to scale how I can help you. I’m also hoping as my TikTok following grows, I can start to attract some influencer marketing opportunities.
Other ideas: Honestly, if you have any other ideas, let me know :)
For the past 3 years, I have spent an unbelievable amount of time writing resumes, talking to random people on the phone, and figuring out how to make money on the internet. I’m finally seeing that impact actual changes on my life and it feels pretty good :)
Thank you to all of your for being a part of the journey. Your support, compliments, and encouragement mean a lot.
xoxo Gossip Girl… I mean Greg
(I never actually watched Gossip Girl, I was more of a Pretty Little Liars fan, but that tagline is too catchy)